Prominent lawyer weighs in on Nawaz's disqualification

KARACHI: Former president of Karachi Bar Council and Vice Chairman of Sindh Bar Council Salahuddin Ahmad weighs in on the landmark Supreme Court judgement which disqualified Nawaz Sharif.

“Well the current case suggests it is permanent,” said Salahuddin when asked if the judgement passed applies for life or not.

He added that there are very strong arguments against it being permanent in the legal community.

“According to Article 63, you can be convicted for a criminal offence, and if convicted that is maybe wiped out for electoral purposes after five years, allowing the candidate to return and contest [elections].”

“In case of mis-declaration of assets, a person no longer remains sadiq and ameen. It has been raised before the Supreme Court and arguments are that these are Islamic provisions from Zia’s tenure.”

The premier was disqualified under Article 62 (1)(f) of the Constitution.

Announcing its verdict, the five-member bench unanimously disqualified Nawaz Sharif for failing to disclose his un-withdrawn receivables constituting assets from UAE-based Capital FZE in his nominations papers for the 2013 General Election, stating that this meant he was not ‘honest’ and ‘truthful’, as per the Constitution.

In the verdict, all five judges ruled to send references against Nawaz Sharif, his children Maryam, Hussain and Hasan, son-in-law Captain (retd) Safdar and Ishaq Dar to an accountability court.

The court also ordered the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) to file a reference against the accused in an accountability court in six weeks and directed for the trial to be wrapped up within six months.